The Founder's Tale
by thefounding-rpg
Summary: In the year of our lord, 1018, the island of Britannia was a country with an ungoverned magic. Four have found each other, coming together to unite their talents to form a school, Hogwarts. G/R, H/S. *this text is prelude to thefounding-rpg.tumblr*
1. Bold Gryffindor, of Wild Moor

_Godric the Bold, of Wild Moor_

_._

Godric was born restless and impatient. His family, the only wizarding people within thirty miles of the river bordering Wild Moor, only bestowed him with a rudimentary instruction of magic. This was not a case of neglect, for Godric was much loved by his parents who were both keen of mind and spirit. It was that they had wrongly believed the last of the line of Gryffindor to be a squib.

By the defiant young age of ten, the only child had left the land of his birth to train alongside a traveling band of knights. He was the only person of magic among them, and the first odd sign of his magic- a baby dragon's fire transmuting to icicles in midair- earned him reproach, respect, and the animal which would one day adorn his crest. From this genesis he was under strict orders from the highest among them, a stocky, battle-worn man, not to use his _abilities_ on the other boys in combat or in jest.

The youngster saw much of the world, and his skill with the sword improved while his magic remained relatively dormant; the governed lands they crossed were intolerant of magic in any form. His first encounter with another witch or wizard apart from his family occurred two years into his training.


	2. Shrewd Slytherin, of Fen

_Salazar the Shrewd, of Fen_

_._

There was a small informal tournament in Fen that year, open to all regardless of age and status. Godric entered, confident that he could effortlessly take his first opponent. He had been watching the sullen boy practice on the hay dummies in the practice ring, and knew that while he had a few years and almost a head in height on Godric, he bandied his sword as though it were a salmon.

The match was over in a matter of minutes. The boy, who he later learned was named Salazar, had waved is sword about, and Godric had stepped forward without difficulty. His own sword was in position to miss the amateur's move and put the boy at his mercy, but at the last moment Godric's weapon glanced off Salazar in a way that mystified him. He tried again and then once more to find an impenetrable barrier that seemed to follow his dastardly opponent. The taller boy claimed the victory with one more fumbled swipe at Godric.

Within minutes after the match was called, Godric found the boy and cornered him behind the loud clanking of the Blacksmith's forge. This boy had not only used magic to claim prizes that he had not skillfully won, but he was a _wizard_, and this fact along was enough to take him before the Lord of Fen, and have him hung by his neck before all until dead.

Salazar did not take well to the accusation or the threat posed unless he returned his winnings. He did not wish to die at fifteen. Salazar Slytherin had lived his entire life under the heel of _muggles-_nearly all of his remaining family had gone the way of the hangman when the harvest hadn't gone as planned or someone's bloody cow got tipped. But he was smarter, superior. Salazar had plans. He was going to be the first Slytherin in the past hundred years to travel past the border of Fen. He was going to make himself known. Just as soon as he had enough gold put by to sustain his family over his absence.

Punches were thrown by both the boys, until Slytherin pulled a gnarled twig from his back pocket and shot a hex at Gryffindor. Enraged, Godric's untamed magic caused the hex to rebound, hitting a small sapling that accordingly grew feathers. It is impossible to say which of the two was more appalled at the understanding that they were both wizards. Godric's pride was sorely bruised. He had cheated using magic, and had been found a hypocrite, putting himself in the same position to be tried for witchcraft as the boy he had just accused.

Salazar had never considered the existence of magic outside of Fen. It was a small, isolated collection of farmers, and the Slytherins were not the only family firmly rooted and unused to travel. The town was one intersection of roads with a few shops, a church and other necessities. It had always been a great point of worth to Salazar that not only did the 'magic' that these peasants fears so much existed, but that it existed in his bloodline.

Once the two realized they met on equal terms, the fighting ceased. There was a strange bond of fascination between the two, and after a burst of laughter all thought of denouncing the other for witchcraft was forgotten. In a week the knights left for the North with the promise to return for the annual tournament, and Godric carried his first wand. It had been made by the oldest member of the Slytherin clan, from the wood of the feathered sapling with a core of dragon heartstring.


	3. Fair Ravenclaw, from Glen

_Rowena the Fair, of Glen_

_._

The next year took Gryffindor farther across Britannia, while he continued experimentation with his newfound wand- usually by night, deep in the forests near camp. This proved dangerous, and once or twice he was nearly happened upon by passing muggles, until the day he was found out by the leader of his band of travelers, a stocky man with a determined uni-brow. Godric remained adamant before him in the desire to bridle his magic in a way he could control, and the man was sympathetic. He had himself traveled far in his many years and seen a great deal of magic, if only from afar. It would be a matter of time before the boy was caught for sorcery and he was a damned if he was going to lose a promising swordsman to a fate as trivial. He resolved to bring their party to Glen.

The land of Glen was ruled by a Lord who took magic as a strange curiosity, and invited all those who practiced it to come to his court. His own daughter had been strangely born with the abilities, and since her birth the area had become a sort of quiet haven for witches and wizards. With Ricbert Ravenclaw as chief advisor, the Ravenclaw family was prominent among those working in the castle. Positions scattered over castle had been given to his nieces and nephews, of which he had over twenty.

The only daughter of Ricbert's youngest brother was a stable hand when she met Gryffindor. Years later, he would tease her with the fact that he was the only one of the Founders of Hogwarts who knew Rowena when she could be described as 'silly'. But even then, the _nearly_ twelve-year-old was never _silly, _except perhaps when she was around Godric. He was two years older than she was and already strong and sharp, even if he denied his intelligence most of the time. Rowena took care of his horse, and it was a fine chestnut mare with deep brown eyes and a defiant stomp to his hoof.

She would have fancied Godric even if he hadn't have been magical, and in those days she was horrible at hiding how she felt; not that he noticed in the slightest. Godric was up to his ears in new spells, incantations, potions, and everything else that for the past three years he had missed out on.

One night his first summer in Glen, Rowena was tending to the horses as she did every evening before the sun set. Hearing a strange noise from the training yard outside, she peeked her head out the smallest window to spy Godric with one of his varied mates. Between them was a suspicious looking half-goat half-dog, the dog end she recognized to be her uncle's favorite wolfhound. The boys were frantically whispering to each other, at a loss for how to transfigure the dog back- for they'd both be spending the next day in the stocks for their foolishness if they were found out.

Rowena approached them with her arms crossed, unnoticed until she loudly cleared her throat. This caused Godric's friend to jump in midair and Godric to give a low short of laughter. Not trusting herself to speak, she gave him a pointed look and reached out to his wand arm and adjusted his grip on his wand. Had no one yet taught this boy how to hold a wand? He carried it like a sword, it was no wonder his transfiguration had gone awry.

Godric nodded to her, and repeated his spell a second time. This time he managed to turn the poor animal back to its original form. From that day on, Godric would make a point to stop by the stables when he had a question he couldn't ask Ricbert. Rowena was a cheerful girl who laughed at his jokes, but there was no getting around that she was noticeably smarter than he was. And the odd thing about that was he never felt stupid talking to her.

Three summers passed, and Godric traveled far and wide spending part of each winter in Fen and his summers in the Glen to the north. By sixteen he proved himself worthy enough to take up the sword and become a knight, and he took the title, although staying with the same band of men. He was growing strong, and finally able to hold his ground with the older men. His brash, risky technique had always kept his opponents on their toes, but by sixteen it was developing into a fearsome bravery.

Godric returned his fourth summer to Glen frustrated. There was a different girl tending to his mare. He had never considered the possibility that Rowena would leave Glen, not when the summer before he'd told her all about Salazar, who since his first meeting, had been able to find his way to enough gold to justify his leaving the land of his birth. He had joined Godric and his mates in travel and training, and had accompanied them to Glen after hearing of it, and indeed of his mates there. Godric had always thought that Slytherin and Ravenclaw would be excellent together.

And to be quite frank, Salazar was grateful on his part that this Rowena wasn't in Glen when they arrived. She sounded like the worst kind of tag-along, and there were pretty little distractions enough for the two of them to not dwell on it for long.


	4. Sweet Hufflepuff, from Valley Broad

_Helga the Sweet, of Valley Broad_

_._

Helga Hufflepuff, as the youngest of the founders, will enter the story last, though it should be noted that that holds no sway in her measure of talent, bravery or ambition.

Helga was the middle child to the village midwife and the village drunk. Her mother had been known as a kind-hearted soul, who greatly eased the pain of those who suffered around her, using 'whatever herbs she could find' when asked was in her famous salves and ointments. Her early death was in part due to her being the only midwife in the region, for she died of fever after the birth of her third child.

Helga grew up without the cares of her fellow founders: the pangs of morality, unrequited fancy or status. Instead she faced a different forefront. Her father was not the sociable drunk, and her older brother was not a caring older brother. Helga began work shortly after her mother's death, at the age of nine. Although she knew she was better suited to the type of work her mother had performed, there was a monastery outside the valley that was willing to provide for her if she became a kitchen aide. She took it as both relief and a way to make sure her baby sister was cared for (who in absence of a mother spent her days running around Helga's feet).

Her days and years passed in relative harmony, or what she had begun to think of as harmony, until she was thirteen. It was a year like any other, cooking for the monks who ate like nothing she'd ever witnessed. She was called into the library, of all places, to be told by very frantic, flustered monks, that her expertise _as a woman_ was needed.

And indeed it was. Helga, with an uncharacteristically impatient move, shooed the monks from the library they held sacred and bent over the young girl who had fallen to the ground among the many volumes. Her arched, swollen stomach and heaving breaths betrayed her to the cause of her trouble at once, and Helga thanked her gods that although she had been called because she was the only female in the complex, they had also called the most practiced in childbirth in the surrounding villages.

Helga delivered a healthy baby girl, who was later baptized as Helena Ravenclaw. The baby was named after a combination of the girl in desperate need's own name, Rowena, and Helga's, as a token of gratitude. The two girls were only a year apart, but that year still distance. She was either escaping an unloved husband or an undutiful lover, and Helga dared not ask which in the next months she knew Rowena, for she was a deeply private person. It would come when she was ready to speak of it.

Apart from this, the girls had much in common. Rowena had a baby to take care of and Helga had her four-year-old sister, Beonne. Although she never quite saw her was a daughter, her little sister meant more to her than all else. The four soon became inseparable. For a time, they stayed in Valley Broad among Hufflepuff's family until that proved to be too much for the two of them to bear. Helga's father in his old age had taken a turn for the worse. Having always blamed both his daughters for his wife's death, he began to question if they were indeed daughters of _his _line. This, coupled with the daily presence of Rowena, a surviving mother with a bastard child, only intensified his ill-born hate.

They ventured out to brave the countryside as soon as Helena was old enough for long travel. They were one sixteen-year-old and one fifteen-year-old, each with a two-year-old and six-year-old respectively. This did not serve to disgrace them on their travels, as one may have suspected. Rowena's careful charmwork on passersby was enough for most to look past them on the road out of the Valley that led to Glen.

Glen held surprises for many that year.

Not only were Rowena's family pleased to have their only daughter back, but welcomed Helena without the stigma that Rowena had imagined there would be. Her flight had been the work of a rash moment, though she didn't regret her travel. Godric and Salazar, both still in the village, were awed by the appearance of the girls. Godric in particular had difficulty keeping his jaw from clenching when he first saw the shy young girl clutching her mother's hand.

He didn't know who the father was, and never asked Rowena out right who it had been. Their last summer they had been at the height of the exuberance of youth. Godric himself was weaning out of it, and at eighteen there was more to do than spend his life chasing after girls in taverns- this was something Salazar, though older, was having difficulty comprehending. He remembered Rowena as curious, trying to be a part of everything that Godric and the knights were up to. If she had gotten herself pregnant, Godric felt to blame although the father was certainly one of his band.

Salazar and Godric both took to Helga instantly, her special way in the kitchen being the fastest way to any grown man's heart. Salazar in particular, and for all the stubborn will that he possess, he has never been able to dismiss Helga's opinion as he can Godric's or Rowena's. After it was quite apparent that Salazar was not any more keen on Ravenclaw than he had originally stated, Godric began to subtly push the him toward Hufflepuff.

No one found this amusing except for Godric. While Salazar with never confirm or deny any feelings other than a platonic friendship, Helga refuses to hear the question all together. Salazar has his girls, and plenty of them. If he will never give her a chance to feel anything for the brute, then what's the point in waiting around for him?

As awkward and precarious the tensions between the future Founders may seem, in reality the four were able to hurdle it and settle into a solid companionship. The only interruption being the weekly argument between Salazar and Godric, but that was by now traditional. They decided to travel, as the only way to increase their scope, as they soon found themselves the four most knowledgeable in Glen.

Leaving Beonne and Helena with Rowena's mother, the four traveled far and wide. Every so often over the next ten years they would return to Glen with tales of magic carpets, curious monks and manticores.

It wasn't until halfway through their travels that Helga struck upon the idea to found a school, a place where they could share all the learning they were gathering. For what use did they have to come by so much knowledge if there was no way to share it?

Scotland, the place of Rowena's birth, was settled on after extensive searching. Letters were written to a handful of students each of the four had taken to on their journey, and many of them have now joined the four to build and teach and learn.


End file.
